A journey begins! Captured already?

[cuscus149]

The sun was beaming down on the island of shimoshiki, everyone was busy whether they were shopping for their weekly supplies or practicing their swordsmanship. Well except for Yamashita Cuscus that is.

Cuscus was asleep, as he normally is during the day time. He had spent the past 5 nights training harder than he ever had done before. He was about to leave on his journey to find the last sword his dead master had created and wanted to be prepared for anything.

He was asleep under a apple tree in the training area of his dojo, what awoke him was the classic apple on the head. For some reason this had happened to him 3 times in the past week and he still couldn't figure out why.

The first thing he did as he rose was check he had his swords by his side. This was no surprise as he did this every time he woke. Next he put on his top hat, walked over to the nearest bush and had a leak. As he was doing up his zipper the reality hit him, today was the day he goes out to sea!

Little did he know, his adventure had already begun!

[dantetakai]

The weather was fair, slight breeze; headed north eastern the town was quite for the most part, people moving around doing their own thing, shopping and conversing with each other. The people smiled as she passed by, some even nodded in her direction. Lumi had been transferred to the island a month earlier, but in that short time she had done much to impress the town people with her gentleness and her ability at sword play. She was on the fast track to being given a new rank hopefully. Her golden armor gleamed in the sunlight; the sound of her steel boots hitting the ground reverberated through the crowd. Her swords and grenades gleamed brightly in the sun as she stopped in front of a small food stand.

Lumi looked at the food vender and smiled. “Hello Sir, How much for some of your food?” he smiled a near toothless grin and gestured three beri. She smiled and after he prepared a bowl for her, she handed him a ten beri note and walked away. She ate the noodles and smiled, they were perfect. After she had finished she deposited the bowl into a nearby dumpster and continued on her way. She had been asked to visit a nearby sword school and give a demonstration.as she walked toward the school she smiled and thought about how much her life had changed.

As she arrived to the school she was given a tour and she smiled as she was looked at by the students who were wondering who she was. A young girl who was obviously just a beginner at sword play walked up to her. “E…Excuse me ma’am.”

“Yes dear?” Lumi said as she knelt in front of the girl whose blond hair hid her face.

“H…H…How do you m…move in so much a…armor? M….my mommy says its bad to wear armor b…because it’s heavy.”

“Well,” Lumi said with a smile as she brushed the girl’s hair from her face. “I’m a Marine and swordswoman. I wear my armor because sometimes a sword isn’t enough. Very few swords are fast enough to stop a gun. But…” She pointed to the girl’s heart. “If you believe with everything in your heart and you practice for a long, long time. You can wear any kind of armor you want and it will always protect you as best it can. I’ll be showing how to fight without armor today. So don’t worry about it, okay?”

“O…Okay.” The girl said as she eyed Lumi's sword. She shook her head and ran back to her group and stayed there as Lumi was asked other questions by the people of the school.

[cuscus149]

Cuscus was one of the few people who lived at the dojo, after taking a bath and getting dressed he had decided to clean his room and pack all the things he needed for his trip out to sea. Just as he was finishing he heard a commotion outside, as he opened his shoji doors he immediately noticed the little kids running in the corridors. This had his alarm bells ringing as anyone who was found running inside would be given punishment of 100 swings with their bokken.

As he closed his door and left the room he noticed one of the older kids trailing behind the young ones clearly less enthusiastic about whatever was going on. He decided to ask what was going on.

"Hey, Sho, whats with all the ruckus around here?"

"Yo Cus, apparently there is some kinda marine or something visiting the dojo today to teach the little kids." Sho replied.

"Well that sounds grrrrreat!" Cuscus was clearly uninterested and had replied in the most sarcastic way possible.

"Ha, not like it will matter to you as your leaving today, but i here its a woman!"

Sho thought of himself as a ladies man, so the fact he new it was a woman didn't surprise Cuscus, in fact it now made sense that Sho was even going to meat the marine as he was one of the better swordsmen in the school.

"Why don't you come with me and check her out? She is only over at the south training area." asked Sho
.
"Yea because i really want to see a lame female marine teach the kids how not to use their weapons. Luckily for you i have a meeting with master before i leave and he will most likely be showing her around so i guess i have no choice!" Cuscus had said this with a clear irritation on his face that showed he would much rather be finding a boat to leave the island on right about now.

"Come on then, lets get this over with!"

[dantetakai]

Lumi walked forward with the master of the school to the middle of the court yard. The master had asked she change her lesson plan to include a live weapon demonstration between one of her students and her. She smiled and simply nodded. The master lead she to the arena in the middle where his most experienced fighters fought. The ground was hard, not stone, but compact dirt with large rocks randomly placed. Lumi smiled and took a handful of the dirt and sprinkled it around. Good quality dirt, she would ask where he got it from so she could get some for her plants in her room on the ship.

“Hello everyone, If you would take your seats I would like to begin by stating my name. I am Lumi Jordania, Marine, and for today your teacher. I see a few of the older students are here to watch. I would like to request that those two steps forward and join me in the arena. Be warned, if you aren’t up for a fight; do not step into this arena. It is a live weapon demonstration.” She said with a very serious face. “At request of your master in concern for my own safety, I will be allowed to wear my full armor.” She took a few steps and lessened her muscles up.

The young girl who had come up to her earlier from the crowd said. “B…But you said-“

“That will wait till my next lesson. We both figured it better to show you just why we practice sword fighting. It isn’t the fight. It isn’t the thrill, but for defense only.” She drew her twin blades and spun in a circle, drawing a circle around her. The middle of the arena, “Those who wish to fight me step forward. I will not chose, it isn’t my place as a guest to choose.”

[cuscus149]

Sho and Cuscus had not long arrived at the training area when they were asked to participate in the demonstration. While Cuscus couldn't really be bothered to waste his energy fighting the marine Sho saw a opportunity of a lifetime.

Sho looked at Cuscus already knowing he wouldn't want to fight the marine, especially today of all days. Due to Cuscus being the stronger of the two Sho understood if Cuscus wanted to fight the marine he would have to let him. This was mainly for the dojo's pride, if they were seen to be weak then they would loose all their new students to one of their rivals.

"So do you wa..." Before Sho could finish Cuscus had already started his reply.

No, besides i know you Sho. You probably see this as a opportunity. Cuscus said this with a look about him that made it clear fighting the marine was the last thing he wanted to do.

After hearing Cuscus say the marine was all his, Sho's face lit up.

As Cuscus was helping Sho get ready to fight the marine, he noticed something unusual. The marine's eyes were different color! Immediately this had every alarm bell in Cuscus's body ringing.

"Sho, their is something strange about this marine, she seems different to all the other low life marines we get around here."

"Hey, you have already said i can fight her so don't go back on your word now!"

"God dammit Sho be serious, man just be careful. Don't underestimate her and get yourself injured like the time when you fought that midget with the one arm."

"Again with the midget! Look, i have told you this a million times it was dark, i tripped over a rock and he caught me with a lucky blow."

"It was 7 o'clock in the middle of summer..."

"Yea well not all of us spend every second of the night training. You must have owl eyes by now!"

Before they new it their master had came over and clipped both of them behind the ear.

"Look you two, we have a very special guest today so stop arguing and making her wait." Their master had said this with a stern look so they both new not to talk back to him.

Yes master
Yes master
The two said in tandem.

After finishing his preparations Sho was ready to fight and stepped into the middle of the arena.

Sho stopped about 2 ft away from the marine and immediately took his chance."Hey I'm Sho, nice to meet you. You know i don't normally fight for no reason so how about we make this a little more interesting? Lets say if i win you have to go on a date with me!"

Sho then immediately attacked the marine before she could respond so that she wouldn't be able to turn him down.

Sho like Cuscus used two swords and had decided to start with a upwards left diagonal slash with the sword in his left hand.

[dantetakai]

Lumi waited, holding her stance the whole time. The young man prepared himself to fight hr, she simply smiled and waited. A number of plans running through her head a her robotic eye zoomed in on the young boys weapons, two swords seemingly standard edition for training. She smiled and unzoomed as he stepped into the arena, he placed a bet that if he won she would date him. She lost her smile and blocked his strike with her armored leg before using her own blade to slap his away. She closed the short distance between her and him and head butteed him hard on the nose. Afterward she simply slapped him with her right hand.
“The battle field is no place for a bet.” She lashed out with a back spin kick to the chest. “Be lucky im here to simply demonstrate a battle. Outside these walls there is no place for bets on the battle field young man.”





Back in the harbor of the town a group of pirates landed, the flag of the rowdy ranglers, one of the few tough crews in the east blue. Their captain a rather large man walked of the ship. Standing at around ten feet tall and nearly 600 pounds of pure muscle, this man hefted a large spiked club and his skin a ruby red from war paint. His crew exited the ship behind him as he smiled. “Well boys! Seems we have our selves a nice little town here! Lets mess it up!” He yelled as his fifty or so crew members yelled happily and began to make their way toward the town at a rather fast pace.

The captain smiled as his men attacked anyone in their way. They weren’t there for gold or for fame. They just wanted to destroy stuff. Everything else was a concelation prize to them. The man walked through town hiting any marine brave enough to attack him. As he and his crew approached the island marine base the alarm sounded. As marines poured out, Jenkins, one of the marines who had arrved with Lumis crew ran off to find her.




It was around this time that his main ship of port turned and opened fire with cannons on the town. Destroying various building and hitting the school lumi was in. hurting quite a few young children. Lumi got up off the ground after the explosion had sent her flying. She activated the short range denden mushi on her wrist. “Jenkins report.”

“Were under attack by a group of pirates, by their flag it’s the Rowdy Ranglers. “

“Contact main HQ, Tell them not to bother to sent prisoner vessels…. There wont be any pirates left to imprison.”

“Yes Ma’am, understood.”

Lumi turned of the denden mushi and signaled to the marines who were there with her to get to the battle field. “Master, I’m requesting you all stay here. You may be fighters but you are not marines. This is our job.” She said as she sheathed her swords and took off toward the battle with the pirates.

[cuscus149]

Having just landed flat on his backside after the kick from the marine Sho was a little groggy. By the time he regained his senses it was already too late. The canon ball had hit him. The last thing he would ever feel was the slight sensation on the side of his head before the canon ball exploded.

Cuscus and the Master who were standing together had been blown into a tree from the explosion. The Master who was once a renowned swordsmen recovered quickly and took in the situation. After checking to make sure Cuscus was ok, he had already began rounding up the children before he had heard the marine's order. He new that the younger children would be in danger if he left so he had no intention of leaving them.

As Cuscus recovered and took in the situation he noticed that Sho was no where to be seen. The last thing he could recall was Sho landing on his backside just outside the circle the marine had made. As he looked over to that area he new instantly what had happened but refused to admit it. Cuscus ran over to the area, turning his head every direction possible trying to see sign of Sho but to no avail. He dropped to his knee's and screamed. "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah"

The Master had gathered up most of the children when he heard the scream. His first thought was that the pirates had already gotten into the dojo and started attacking the children. When he saw Cuscus on his knee's in the area where the canon had exploded he realized what had really happened. Before he could do anything Cuscus had got up and had started running towards the exit of the dojo. Remembering the marine's order to stay in the dojo he tried to shout to Cuscus. "Cuscus stop!!!!" It was too late, a canon had exploded close by at the same time and completely cancelled out the Master's words.

The first place Cuscus rushed to was the harbor, his anger had taken a hold of him and he wanted to crush the person who was firing the canon balls. Having taken the back roads he had yet to come across any of the pirates. He was just entering the harbor when he saw the first of the pirate's, without even a second's remorse he used
1 Sword style : crescent moon.
Quickly dispatching of the pirate grunt he carried on running to find more and ultimately their ship.

[dantetakai]

Lumi dashed past civilians and slashed into the chest of a pirate. Her blade cutting clean through as she twisted and turned midair to avoid a bullet from another pirate who met the same fate as the first. As she landed she growled in her throat as three pirates ran toward her. “Dancing Lioness!” She disappeared for a split second and appeared behind the men in full stride as she kept running, her swords drawn as the men’s chest opened up and they fell. Their blood stained her blades as she ran toward the dock and as she arrived she was greeted by Jenkins and his men, bunkered down behind a fallen wall and emergency cover. “Report Jenkins, now.”

“Were overrun ma’am, help won’t come for another hour or so. Were good on ammunition for the moment but the battle won’t last much longer if we don’t start cutting down their numbers.” Jenkins fired off two shots, his guns were revolvers. Good strong guns. More accurate than normal flintlock guns. His red hair a stark contrast with his blue eyes. He shot of a few more shots before ducking behind cover as Lumi blocked the bullets with her blades. She growled loudly as fifteen or so pirates advanced on their position. Taking cover as they did when the marines returned fire.


”Come on Marines! Put up a fight! My men don’t like their food unless they fight for it!” The pirate captain smiled as Lumi looked toward him. His words had touched a nerve. ”What do you think boys? Once we take over this town whatever we don’t kill, well sell into slavery eh? Maybe keep a few as pets?” his men cheered as they advanced. Lumis’ look instantly changed. Her face went from calm to raging storm in an instant. She stepped forward and dodged bullets or cut them out of the sky. Jenkins sounded for the marines to advance and they did, staying close behind Lumi.

“You will not lay a hand on a single innocent person on this island from this stage forward. You will all taste the iron blade of justice, but you,” she said pointing to the pirate captain. “You shall meet the lioness’s fangs.” She walked forward, her men behind her. As she advanced she picked up speed and so did her men. The pirates charged forward as the marines did and they clashed her swords cutting down pirates left and right. She scanned the area for the captain and he locked eyes with her as she charged right at him. “Golden Lioness Heavenly Blow!” Their weapons clashed. And they continued to strike hard and fast.

[cuscus149]

As Cuscus ran through the harbor searching for any sign of the pirate ship, he came across another pirate grunt. This time instead of dispatching of the grunt while he was unawares he decided to get the grunt to tell him where there ship was.

As he got to within 10ft of the pirate, he was seen. The pirate quickly pulled out a cutlass and prepared to attack Cuscus. Despite having killed a pirate already he felt like this was going to be his first fight to the death. While he hated the fact that the pirates had caused so much damage and killed his friend, he was still a little grateful that he would get to test himself before he left the safety of the dojo and everything he had ever known.

As he edged closer to the pirate he drew both his swords. The pirate clearly wasn't shocked, it was like he had seen this all before. Here was some dojo brat who thought he could take on the rowdy ranglers all by himself. Cuscus didn't put it off any longer, he rushed in immediately using a precise slash with the blade in his right hand to the pirate's sword hand. The pirate swiftly parried his attack all to easily and took a step back.

"If that is the best you have got you may as well save us both the time and just kill yourself" Said the pirate.

Cuscus was surprised, he didn't think his attacks could be parried so easily.

"Who are you? No every day grunt can parry my attacks so easily."

"Hooooooo, to be able to notice that i'm not just your average deckhand after only 1 attack. It seems i was too quick to judge you young one. My name is Price, I'm the vice-captain of the rowdy ranglers. You may of heard of me, i go by the epithet of parries price."

"Nope. Do you have a bounty?"

Clearly a little ticked off by Cuscus's reply Price replied. "I believe that its currently being dealt with by the marines now! I'm sure it will be in the region of at least 6 million though!"

"So that's a no..."

Being unable to stand any more of Cuscus's ignorance price attacked, aiming at Cuscus's neck with his cutlass. Cuscus jumped back narrowly avoiding the slash. He immediately returned with a slash to the arm of Price, while Cuscus's movements were swift and would normally have caught any of the opponents in the dojo, Price had earned his namesake. He parried beautifully with his cutlass, not only creating a opening in Cuscus's defence but allowing him to thrust the hilt into the stomach of Cuscus. This knocked Cuscus back, he managed to catch himself and regain his composure, just before he fell of the wooden harbor deck that all the ships were attacked to.

"It seems like i'm going to have to get serious from the get go!"

[dantetakai]

The two clashed and clashed over and over again. Their weapons hitting again and again. Lumi stood her ground and used her strongest strikes against the titan of a man she fought. His blows hit her hard enough that she was seeing stars whenever their weapons hit. She gritted her teeth and jumped back from his swing. Her men disengaged the pirates as they retreated a few feet. Both sides eyeing each other up again. A few marines lay dead, more pirates did then marines though. The pirate captain smiled happily. His body covered in various cuts from Lumis swords. Her own armor dented from where his blows had hit. The armor had a few holes in it from his weapons spikes. But nothing serious.

Seems were evenly matched girly. I haven’t had this much fun fighting someone in a long time. He laughed loudly as Lumis face grew darker and tenser. She hated this man with a passion, his mere actions in the time she had been around him made her heart scream in anger. She sheathes red her swords and her men looked toward her shocked. Are you giving up girl? Are you afraid of the fight? Fine. Ha-ha. I’ll make a deal with you. A bet, me and you. Alone, your men stay back and so do mine. We will finish this fight the Rowdy Ranglers way. If I win, we take full control of this island. And you become my slave.

Lumi looked toward the man. She looked him over and her mind flashed back to the young lad who died in the school she had started the day in. He had offered a bet as well, and she had told him the battle field was not a place for those kinds of things. She had always taken that part of the job serious, the fighting, and the defending. She had never really gotten to have fun with the fighting. But that young boy… “I agree…” Jenkins and her men looked surprised at this. Their captain never played the odds. If he got even one lucky shot she would lose everything. “I agree to your terms. If I win…” her mind flashed back again to the young boys face. He had smiled at her, before he died. She was not going to lose this fight, his lost life… she was going to live it for both of them in this moment. “If I win… then the master of the school whose students you endangered will decide your fate. After all… I’m just a guest to this island. “

[cuscus149]

Cuscus decided that he wouldn't be able to go all out against Price on the thin wooden harbor deck. As he edged back towards the town and a wider area he came across the mass of other pirates. The grunts ended up seeing him but after they saw Price fighting they new there was no need to help.

All the while Cuscus was leading Price to the wider area he had been swiftly attacking Cuscus, it had become clear to Price that this fight was going to be a fight that could end in a instant. The first person who got a clear attack in would be the winner.

As soon as Cuscus new that the other grunts weren't going to attack him he concentrated fully on Price and prepared his counterattack.

2 Sword style : + slash.

Price was shocked at the precise movements of the attack and struggled to jump back in time. This irritated Price as the fact he couldn't parry a dojo brat's attack would make him the laughing stock of the rowdy ranglers. After he recovered he went back onto the attack, faster this time. Left, right, left, right, up, down. Cuscus was struggling to keep up with the attacks. Despite using both his swords he was doing everything he could to just keep himself alive.

Elsewhere :
The pirate ship of the rowdy ranglers had stopped firing cannon balls. By this time the whole town was damaged to extreme lengths. After a cannon ball had hit the local bank some of the grunts had begun loading treasure chests onto the ship. Despite having held the 50 pirates of the rowdy ranglers it was only a basic ship, by the amount they were stocking up they were clearly expecting for there captain to steal a second and possibly even third ship before they left the island. Having been barely able to stand with room to move on the way to the island they had stocked up with food to last about 10 people. Once the few grunts had finished loading the ship they went to join the fight, expecting Price to still be close by to protect the ship.

The fight between Cuscus and Price had been continuing at a steady pace, all the while Cuscus had been on the back foot, but finally he saw his chance. Price's attack had slowed and was slightly off this gave him the perfect chance to regain the momentum. He used,

2 Sword style : wave crash

Having been shocked at the attack Price had allowed himself to get caught, his cutlass was sent left and the slash connected with his chin. He stumbled backwards and fell onto the floor. Cuscus loomed over him ready to give the killer blow, but it didn't come.

"Where is your ship harbored?"

"Wha... let me live and ill tell you!"

Cuscus told Price to take him there.

[dantetakai]

Lumi and the large captain were surrounded by the pirates on one side and the marines on the other. Keeping things even. Lumis blades were sheathed as she was preparing for the fight. The captain’s men brought him his second club and he smiled. The pirates around him cheering loudly as the captain swung his clubs around in a lazy circle. He circled as did Lumi. The large mans red skin shined in the sun as did her armor. She circled him. Drawing her swords slowly as to not provoke him. She waited, as did he, both of them waiting for the other to make a move. The captain made the first he charged at Lumi who side stepped his first swing and then was hit square in the chest by the second, sending her back several feet. The captain jumped into the air and landed another blow on her robotic arm, which held up against the attack. As the man didn’t know about her robotic body parts he was shocked her arm had not broken.

Lumi registered the look of shock on his face and kicked him in the gut, sending him back from her. Before he could open his mouth to ask a question she was already in front of him, ready to hit him again. But he had regained his composure by then and slammed his club into her side, crumpling the armor and sending her flying into Jenkins. She screamed out in pain as the armor stabbed into her side. She ripped the armor from her chest, leaving nothing on but the bandages that had kept her skin from being rubbed up against by the armor. She looked at her side and found a large whole from there the spike in the club had punctured her armor. Thankfully it wasn’t too deep. Otherwise she would be in serious trouble. With a single look to Jenkins, he understood to stay back and that this was her fight.

As Lumi got back up she removed the rest of the armor from her body and the sounds of it thudding against the ground hushed the pirate crowd, which, in the wake of what had appeared to be their captain’s victory, they found his opponent still alive and nearly naked. Save the bandages and tight pants that kept her skin safe. As the pirates grew quiet the captain looked toward the girl and was again, shocked. I’m surprised… Most people are not as strong in will as you. Ha-ha! Normally I would have won with that blow. But it seems your armor saved your life girly. Isn’t that great, we get to have more fun! Hahahaha! Lumi held her sword in her hands gently as the man rambled on. His words lost on her. Her mind raced and her heart was beating faster than normally allowed. Adrenalin surged through her body.

“Jenkins… Take the men and go protect the city from any pirates who got past. Send half or so to capture their ship. Ill handles these thugs myself.” Jenkins went to question her but simply nodded as he and a group of men went toward the ship and the rest went into the town. She took a deep breath and silently thanked Jenkins for not fighting back against her orders, as it would have shaken her nerves. The captain of the pirates laughed loudly. His men advancing on Lumi, who was now without protection from her men. “I figured once my men were gone you would break our deal. That’s why I sent them away.”

Sent them away? Why would you do that if you knew we would gang up on you?

“I did it… Because they would have just gotten in the way.” That’s when the captain realized she had three grenades on her sword which she hit up and then toward his men three of which took a grenade to the face and were killed by the explosion and the others were seriously hurt. Those left standing waited for the smoke to clear only to find that the marine was gone. One had the smart idea of looking up, and the last thing he saw was her sword cleaving downward cutting the man in half as his friend turned and tried to stab her with a spear, which was met with a block from her sword and a punch to the face from Lumi who broke the pirates nose before cutting his chest diagonally upward in half.

She blocked more attacks from the pirates that were still alive and cut down two of them with one slash. She jumped high into the sky and started to skin, her sword pointed toward the pirate she landed on as she speared him and stopped spinning long enough to pull them from his chest and into the neck of another pirate. Three shots went off two of which were blocked by the swords but the third imbedded itself in her stomach and he yelled out in pain and jumped back blocking more shots until she recovered enough to attack again and she cut down the shooters leaving just her, the captain, and three scared pirates near him. The three took one look at her and dropped their weapons and bolted. Leaving the captain shouting that they were cowards.

“Seems your men have all been killed or deserted you.”

”SHUT UP YOU MARINE WH—“ his words were cut off by the sound of a cannon going off from his ship.

“As a Marine it is my duty to give you the chance to surrender. Do you accept?”

”F-- a long stream of words was cut off by the return fire against the ship by the marine base. But Lumi could tell, yes ill surrender was not in them.

“I see, Then you leave me no alternative.” She took up stance to attack him with a combination of her two attacks. He stepped backwards from her with a look of terror on his face, he composed himself and raised a club to block her attack but she was already gone, having appareled behind him as a multiple cuts appeared on his body as his arms were cut off from the elbow down. He screamed out in shock and pain as Lumi reappeared less than a meter behind him. “Combination complete, Dancing Lioness Heavenly Blow, achieved.” As she sheathed her sword his neck opened spewing blood everywhere. ‘We both broke our end of the deal it seems.

[cuscus149]

It hadn't taken long for Price to show Cuscus where the pirate ship was harbored. They had actually passed it when Cuscus was trying to find a larger area to fight. Even though Price had followed Cuscus's orders he was swiftly hit in the back of the head with the hilt of Cuscus's sword as soon as they arrived. Price lay their on the floor unconscious as Cuscus began to board the ship.

As he boarded the ship he expected a fight and had both his swords unsheathed and ready. The first person he came into contact with was one of the grunts, while most had left to attack the island this grunt was finishing loading the ship. Before the grunt could even look around he was slashed diagonally across his back. As Cuscus continued to search around the ship he came across the person he wanted to, the Rowdy Ranglers marksmen.

As soon as he saw the person firing the cannon his anger erupted, this was the person who had fired the shot that killed his friend. This was the man that ruined his hometown. Cuscus charged at the man swinging in rage, as he was about to connect the ship was hit by a canon ball and both men were sent flying. As Cuscus got to his feet the marksmen saw him.

It seems you have wandered onto the wrong ship kid.

... Cuscus just stared into the eyes of the man not even bothering to reply.

Haha, you can look all scary as much as you want, soon the captain and the rest of the guys will be back and you will be outnumbered!

Maybe you are right, but by then you will have payed for your crimes.

The marksmen grabbed both the guns at his side and fired at Cuscus. Cuscus dived to the left as soon as he saw the guns rising only narrowly avoiding the bullets, before the marksmen could fire again he ran and blocked the maksmen's view by standing behind the main mast.

You can hide all you want kid, i'm not going to chase you. All it is doing is giving my crew longer to come back.

Despite knowing that the marksmen was right he new he couldn't dive in. This was his first time facing guns and he didn't want to take a injury that would put his journey back another 6 months.

As Cuscus went to look round the mast the marksmen fired, luckily for him the bullets hit the mast. Cuscus immediately charged at the marksmen knowing that this would be his only chance, if the marksmen managed to reload he would be hit, if not then he would get a chance to end the fight before it dragged on.

Cuscus had managed to get to the marksmen and had already begun to slash down at his head. He noticed only when it was too late, the marksmen hadn't even been trying to reload instead he had raised his left gun and used it to block Cuscus's slash. Before Cuscus could attack with his other sword the marksmen had dropped his other gun and punched Cuscus in the stomach. At first all Cuscus felt was a normal punch and he was already beginning to slash at the marksmen's neck with his free sword. He heard the gun fire before he felt the bullet. The marksmen had shot him in the stomach. As he looked down too see what happened at first all he saw was the marksmen's first, he then noticed a rather large ring with a little button on the top, before he could think of anything else he dropped to his knee's and passed out.

[dantetakai]

Jenkins and his men advanced toward the ship, the men moving quietly as possible and hide upon hearing the fight on deck. He reloaded his revolvers and signaled his men to surround the ship as best as possible as he made his way onboard. He kept calm as he heard the shot and slowly stood up aiming the guns at the marksmen of the pirates. “Freeze, you’re under marine arrest.” He put signaled to his men who boarded the ship. They surrounded the marks men and with the sound of hand cuffs cuffing, the marksmen was arrested and the young lad given medical treatment. Under the deck Jenkins and his men went to work securing the treasure to take to a marine ship to be guarded till this whole situation had blown over.

As they went to work, a marine came forward with a locked chest, rather small. “What do we do with this sir?”

Jenkins inspected it and opened it, upon finding the devil fruit inside he was shocked, but understood why the pirates had not eaten it, it was a gamble for sure… but… maybe if he… no. it wasn’t his property, The young lad had stopped the ship from leaving, Jenkins could think of nothing more valuable a reward then a devil fruit. He laid the fruit in the box and took it to the boy’s temporary room. He laid it next to him and sat by him. “Your ether stupid or stupid to fight pirates by yourself kid. But I got to say… You’re brave. We could use more men like you, once we beat the stupid out of you.” He smiled gently and tended to the young man’s wounds.